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Reinforcements  for  Our  Church 
From  the  Orient 


A TIMELY  APPEAL 

ADDRESSED  TO  ALL  METHODIST  EPISCOPAL 
MINISTERS  AND  LAYMEN  RESIDENT 
IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 


By 


WILLIAM  FAIRFIELD  WARREN.  D.D. 

Boston  University 


THE  MISSIONARY  SOCIETY  OF  THE 
METHODIST  EPISCOPAL  CHURCH 

Rindge  Literature  Department 
150  RFTH  AVENUE.  NEW  YORK 


'Price,  5 cents 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 
in  2016 


https://archive.org/details/reinforcementsfoOOwarr 


REINFORCEMENTS  FOR  OUR  CHURCH 
FROM  THE  ORIENT 


ILLIONS  of  Christians  to  be  had  for  the  asking. 
Thousands  on  thousands  of  Christian  households 
whose  children  and  children’s  children  lack  only  a 
sincere  and  properly  expressed  invitation  to  bring 
them  within  the  fold  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church.  Shall  the  invitation  be  given? 

Before  me  as  I write  lies  the  latest  annual  report 
of  the  United  States  Commissioner-General  of  Immigration.  The 
year  that  has  closed  since  its  issue  last  June  has  broken  all  rec- 
ords in  the  history  of  immigration  m this  or  any  other  country.  A 
few  Sundays  ago,  at  the  one  port  of  New  York,  in  the  twelve  hours 
of  the  one  day,  more  than  twelve  thousand  immigrants  became  Ameri- 
cans by  domicile.  Imagine  the  procession  that  every  Sunday  and  every 
week  day  is  moving  m across  our  national  boundaries  at  the  other  ports 
and  the  railway  lines  of  entry.  The  aggregate  for  the  last  twelve  months 
is  over  one  million  and  twenty  thousand  souls. 

Whence  come  the  majority  of  these  “hordes?”  You  look  over  my 
shoulder  at  the  Commissioner’s  report  and  see  that  though  the  sons  of 
Japan  and  China  are  coming  by  thousands,  “more  than  ninety-five  per 
cent.”  still  come  from  Europe.  This  relieves  your  mind  a little.  But 
Englishmen  and  Irish  and  Germans  and  Scandinavians  no  longer  head 
the  list.  Far-away  and  unfamiliar  nationalities  and  tongues  are  promi- 
nent in  the  newest  tables.  In  the  lists  you  see  not  only  Greeks,  and 
Russians,  and  Poles,  but  also  Bohemians,  Bosnians,  Bulgarians,  Croa- 
tians,  Dalmatians,  Lithuanians,  Magyars,  Roumanians,  Ruthenians,  Ser- 
vians, Slovenians,  Slovaks,  Syrians.  People  of  Slavic  stock  outnumber 
every  other.  This  stock  alone  has  sent  us  almost  a thousand  a day  for 
every  working  day  of  the  past  year.  Is  our  Anglo-Saxon  civilization 
and  religion,  after  successfully  resisting  the  impact  of  Celtic  and  Teu- 
tonic and  Iberic  immigrations,  now  at  last  to  be  submerged  under  an  ir- 
resistible tide  of  Slavs  and  neighbors  of  the  Slav?  Believe  it  not.  Be- 
lieve rather  that  having  given  to  our  nation  and  to  its  churches  the  best 


6 


REINFORCEMENTS  FROM  THE  ORIENT 


that  Western  Europe  could  give,  the  God  of  our  fathers  is  now  euming 
to  enrich  us  with  the  best  that  Eastern  Europe  can  supply.  As  patriots 
and  as  Christians  we  often  dishearten  each  other  as  we  gloomily  talk 
of  our  national  and  religious  outlook.  We  ought  to  cease  this  dismal 
and  damaging  occupation  and  sing  a doxology  over  the  fact  that  the 
vast  majority  of  these  hundreds  of  thousands  of  newcomers  are  true  dis- 
ciples of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  better  fitted  for  some  forms  of  Christian 
service  among  us  than  any  native  American  can  be. 

Look  for  a moment  at  the  normal  Slav,  a respectable  Russian.  He 
never  swears.  He  drinks  less  of  his  vodka  than  your  New  England 
grandfather’s  Puritan  parson  did  of  rum  and  hard  cider.  He  and  the 
children  he  brings  with  him  over  the  sea  have  been  baptized  in  the  name 
of  the  Father  and  of  the  Son  and  of  the  Holy  Ghost.  They  have  been 
instructed  in  a Christian  catechism,  and  at  confirmation  in  the  church 
they  deliberately  renounced  the  devil  and  all  his  works.  According  to 
their  light  they  are  conscientious  Christians,  and  have  no  idea  of  ever 
becoming  anything  else.  Just  over  his  heart  this  man  wears  day  and 
night  a little  silver  cross  which  he  does  not  remove  even  when  bathing. 
Before  partaking  of  food  or  drink  he  makes  over  it  the  sign  of  the  cross 
in  remembrance  of  our  Lord.  When  he  passes  a church,  or  an  ikon  of 
St.  Paul,  or  other  sacred  reminder,  he  “crosses  himself.”  What  means 
this?  To  him  it  means  that  in  making  his  upward  and  downward  ges- 
tures he  is  thinking  of  the  thorn-pierced  brow  and  wounded  feet  of  the 
Crucified,  and  that  in  making  the  transverse  horizontal  movement  he  is 
thinking  of  the  spike-torn  hands  and  spear-pierced  side.  At  every  holy 
communion  he  reverently  kisses  the  sacred  body  of  his  Lord  as  repre- 
sented upon  the  ivory  crucifix  extended  to  him,  and  then  receives  the 
sacred  emblems,  trustfully  looking  to  Jesus  as  his  only  Saviour.  Where 
can  we  better  leave  him  in  our  thought? 

Look  now  at  a little  company  of  these  Russians  as  they  land  at 
Ellis  Island  in  New  York  harbor.  Through  what  struggles  of  mind 
passed  each  of  those  fathers  before  the  pinch  of  poverty  or  the  bruise 
of  oppression  drove  him  at  last  to  the  desperate  decision  to  abandon 
home  and  friends  and  homeland  forever.  What  precious  things  had 
to  be  left  behind!  What  more  precious  kindred  and  friends!  What 
family  hardships  have  been  endured  upon  the  long,  long  journey!  What 
painful  misgivings  and  fears  fill  the  minds  of  these  men,  women  and 
children,  as  each  morning  they  wake  to  think  anew  of  facing  a world  of 
utter  strangers  in  a land  where  they  can  neither  speak  nor  understand 
the  commonest  of  words!  Some  of  the  family  are  perhaps  already  ill 


REINFORCEMENTS  FROM  THE  ORIENT  7 

and  nigh  unto  death.  Their  little  hoard  of  roubles  will  scarce  suffice 
to  feed  the  well  a week  beyond  the  time  of  landing.  They  were  praying 


• From  a copyright  stereograph,  1904,  by  Underwood  & Underwood,  New  Vork) 

Westward  to  the  Land  of  Promise — A Shipload  of  Emigrants  from  Europe  on  their 
Way  to  New  York 

people  at  home;  be  sure  that  in  all  their  lives  they  never  prayed  as  they 
are  praying  now. 

Here,  then,  is  a glorious  bow  of  promise  overspanning  the  dark  cloud 
of  Slavic  and  other  Oriental  migrations.  These  far-wandering  sheep  of 
the  Great  Shepherd  cannot  be  cared  for  by  the  territorially  divided  and 


8 


REINFORCEMENTS  FROM  THE  ORIENT 


linguistically  limited  home-churches  of  Russia,  Greece,  Bulgaria,  Servia, 
Montenegro,  Syria,  and  the  rest.  TTiey  are  the  providential  w^ards  of 
our  American  churches.  We  should  look  upon  them  as  mighty  rein- 
forcements coming  to  our  aid  in  our  titanic  contest  with  sin  and  crime. 
Their  multitudinous  children  new  born  in  our  land  are  all  “of  God’s 
kingdom, ’’  and  therefore  already  “graciously  entitled  to  baptism  ’ at  our 
hands.  These  people  are  the  “strangers”  to  whom  our  Lord  will  refer 
at  the  Great  Day;  and  we,  as  a church,  and  individuals,  will  stand 
or  fall  according  as  it  shall  be  possible  to  say,  “Ye  took  Me  in,”  or  “Ye 
took  Me  not  in.”  They  should  not  be  addressed  as  “foreign  devils,” 
or  as  unconverted  people.  They  should  be  received  in  their  true  char- 
acter as  brethren  in  the  common  faith,  fully  entitled  to  brotherly  sym- 
pathy and  aid.  They  should  be  welcomed  to  church  fellowship.  Any 
American  church  that  will  meet  them  in  this  way  may  gather  them  by 
the  thousand.  Our  own,  as  the  largest,  most  ecumenical,  most  democratic, 
and  at  least  in  ideals  most  evangelistic  of  all,  has  adaptations  for  this  har- 
vest such  as  no  other  possesses.  We  ought  to  use  them.  We  ought  to 
do  it  for  Christ’s  sake,  for  His  dispatriated  followers’  sake,  and  for  the 
sake  of  our  country. 

For  this  high  call  of  duty  and  line  of  privilege  few  of  our  pastors 
or  flocks  are  as  yet  prepared.  Not  one  in  a hundred  has  sufficient 
breadth  of  view  or  scope  of  sympathy  to  be  available  for  truly  effective 
service.  In  their  narrow  native  American  prejudices  the  mass  too  much 
resemble  the  Judaizing  party  in  the  days  of  St.  Paul.  The  average 
Methodist  is  willing  to  consider  these  Oriental  strangers  human  beings, 
and  as  such  in  need  of  Christ  and  His  salvation.  But  he  assumes  that 
as  yet  they  know  next  to  nothing  of  the  one  or  the  other,  and  that 
what  they  do  know  only  aggravates  their  guilt  in  the  sight  of  God.  If 
exceptionally  earnest,  he  says  that  mission  halls  should  be  erected,  mis- 
sionaries of  the  Boanerges  type  placed  in  them,  and  thus  efforts  be  made 
to  deliver  them  from  the  power  and  service  of  Satan.  We  gladly  admit 
that  all  this  is  in  the  line  of  commendable  effort  for  the  saving  of  such 
as  are  deliberately  in  the  service  of  Satan,  but  who  can  wonder  that 
Oriental  Christians  are  not  attracted  to  such  halls  by  such  bearers  of  the 
invitation?  I verily  believe  that  one  of  the  divine  purposes  in  bringing 
to  us  these  myriads  of  foreigners  from  the  remotest  corners  of  Europe 
is  that  by  inevitable  contact  with  them  American  Christians  of  every 
name  may  soon  acquire  that  cosmopolitan  breadth  of  sympathy  in  re- 
ligious fellowship  which  in  the  sphere  of  secular  citizenship  we  are 
rapidly  acquiring.  By  and  by  our  children  may  be  as  charmed  with  the 


REINFORCEMENTS  FROM  THE  ORIENT  9 

Oriental  cruciform  house  of  worship,  foursquare  and  crowned  with  the 
five  gilded  domes,  as  we  have  been  with  houses  built  in  the  style  of  the 
younger  and  less  convenient  Gothic.  In  any  case,  let  us  hope  and  pray 
that  those  children  may  come  to  have  sufficient  breadth  of  Christly  sym- 


(From  a copyright  stereograph,  1904,  by  Underwood  6c  Underwood,  New  York) 

At  the  Gateway  of  the  Nation — Immigrants  Landing  at  Ellis  Island,  New  York 

pathy  with  all  men  to  join  at  the  last,  and  without  a blush,  in  that  choral 
song  of  the  redeemed:  “Thou  art  worthy  to  take  the  book,  and  to  open 

the  seals  thereof;  for  Thou  weist  slam,  and  hast  redeemed  us  to  God 
by  Thy  blood  out  of  every  kindred,  and  tongue,  and  people,  amd  nation.” 


10 


REINFORCEMENTS  FROM  THE  ORIENT 


To  this  point  our  appeal  has  dealt  with  its  theme  only  in  a general 
way  and  with  reference  to  general  principles.  Many  a reader  is  very 
likely  saying:  “Duty  in  the  abstract  is  always  easy  of  definition:  the 
rub  comes  when  we  are  set  in  fixed  relations  with  actual  human  beings. 
Tell  us  what  the  average  preacher,  with  an  average  church,  in  am  aver- 
age American  community,  can  do,  and  you  will  better  deserve  a hear- 
ing.” The  word  is  well  spoken.  I feel  the  difficulty  of  attempting  a 
just  response.  Here,  however,  is  a letter  of  advice  I lately  wrote  to  a 
young  pastor  who  was  disheartened  by  the  pressure  of  this  precise  prob- 
lem. It  IS  the  best  1 can  do  to-day.  May  it  call  out  far  better  counsels 
from  brethren  of  larger  pastoral  experience: 


A LETTER 

Showing  How  One  Decadent  Pastoral  Charge,  Threatened  with 
Extinction,  Can  Renew  Its  Own  Christian  Life,  Save  Its 
Community,  and  Aid  In  Saving  the  Nation. 

Dear  Brother: — Your  appeal  of  yesterday  for  advice  touches  me 
deeply.  A cry  from  an  old  pupil  is  like  a cry  from  one’s  own  child. 
And  when  you  write  in  such  discouragement  over  the  irresistible  tide  of 
foreign  life  that  is  fast  submerging  your  town,  transforming  its  population, 
narrowing  your  field,  and  dooming  your  little  church  to  slow  but  sure 
extinction,  I am  for  the  moment  filled  with  your  own  distress.  Thank 
God!  it  is  only  for  the  moment.  We  are  not  called  to  represent  a dy- 
ing cause,  or  a dead  Saviour.  We  are  to  live  and  work  in  the  spirit  of 
the  Conscious  Conqueror  on  high.  We  are  to  say  with  John  (as  the 
Revised  Version  correctly  renders  him)  : “This  is  the  victory  that  hath 
overcome  the  world,  even  our  faith.”  Remember  that  you  are  a repre- 
sentative of  the  faith  that  is  already  and  forever  conscious  of  accom- 
plished victory  over  the  world.  As  such  what  have  you  to  do  in  the 
presence  of  this  portentous  influx  of  foreign  populations  which  so  threat- 
ens the  life  of  your  little  charge? 

1 . Make  this  grave  providential  exigency  the  pressing  burden  of 
your  prayers  from  this  time  forward,  until  your  prayers  can  give  place 
to  praises. 

2.  Acquaint  yourself  as  fully  as  possible  with  the  character,  and 
with  the  needs,  temporal  and  spiritual,  of  these  foreign  families,  especially 
of  those  just  arriving  from  their  distant  homes.  Were  you  going  to 
any  one  of  these  Oriental  lands  as  an  ambassador  of  the  United 
States,  you  would  hasten  to  store  your  memory  with  the  names  of 
its  great  historic  characters,  to  acquaint  yourself  with  the  master- 
pieces of  its  literature,  and  to  make  sure  you  were  familiar  with  all 
the  illustrious  benefits  conferred  by  its  people  upon  mankind.  You 
would  expect  to  use  this  information,  and  to  find  it  helpful  in  acquiring 


REINFORCEMENTS  FROM  THE  ORIENT 


appropriate  influence  in  your  office.  Shall  the  ambassador  for  the  King 
of  Heaven  do  less? 

3.  For  one  week  put  yourself  and  your  family  in  the  place  of 
one  of  these  newly  arrived  families,  and  ask  yourself,  daily,  what  you 


Off  for  their  New  Homes — Immigrants  Leaving  Jersey  City  for  Points  in  the  Interior 


would  Wish  good  men  to  do  unto  you,  were  you  in  the  heart  of  Russia, 
or  Greece,  with  no  prospect  that  either  you,  or  your  children,  would 
ever  again  see  your  native  land. 

4.  At  the  end  of  that  week,  full  of  tender  sympathy,  preach  the 
sermon  of  your  life,  on  the  text.  Lev.  19;  33,  34:  “If  a stranger  so- 


12 


REINFORCEMENTS  FROM  THE  ORIENT 


journ  with  thee  in  your  land,  ye  shall  not  do  him  wrong.  The  stranger 
that  sojourneth  with  you  shall  be  unto  you  cis  the  home-born  among 
you,  and  thou  shall  love  him  as  thyself ; for  ye  were  sojourners  in  the 
land  of  Egypt;  I am  Jehovah  your  God.  ” 

5.  At  the  Sunday-school  hour,  address  both  teachers  cind  scholars 
on  the  Golden  Rule,  with  close  personal  applications  to  their  treatment 
of  their  neighbors  of  foreign  birth,  and  to  their  altitude  toward  the 
children  of  those  neighbors. 

6.  For  Monday  night  call  an  extraordinary  meeting  of  your  offi- 
cicJ  board.  Pray  with  these  brethren  as  you  never  before  have  prayed 
— it  will  be  easy — then  summon  them  to  the  inspiring  work  of  trans- 
formmg  the  very  forces  which  are  threatening  their  church’s  Lfe  into 
forces  of  undreamed-of  tnumph. 

7.  Summon  them  to  give  you  at  least  a part  of  the  financial  patron- 
age of  the  church  for  use  m enlisting  the  fnendly  interest  of  two  families 
of  unshepherded  foreigners.  Ask  simply  for  the  use  of  the  hundred 
dollars  now  paid  for  sexton  service.  Request  them  to  nommate  for  a 
sexton  a brother  able  and  willing  to  serve  without  pay,  and  with  the 
understanding  that,  with  the  advice  of  intelLgent  leaders  in  the  foreign 
community,  he  shall  select  two  honest,  well-mannered,  cind  God-fearing 
men  of  recent  arrival,  to  hold  the  office  of  “assistant  sextons,”  responsi- 
ble to  the  sexton  for  the  nght  discharge  of  such  duties  in  church  house- 
cleaning, snow-shoveling,  and  furnace  care,  as  he  may  assign,  and  re- 
ceiving each  one  dollar  a Sunday  for  such  service. 

8.  Impress  upon  these  official  brethren  the  momentous  fact  that, 
with  this  one  simple  and  sensible  arrangement,  the  parish  will  find  itself 
possessed  of  two  admirably  qualified  and  efficient  agents  in  the  new  field, 
men  who  week  in  and  week  out  will  be  spreading  abroad  among  their 
countrymen  the  impression  that  in  your  church  they  all  have  an  orgrmized 
body  of  native  American  friends  and  helpers. 

9.  The  new  assistant  sextons  will  from  the  first  moment  have 
great  curiosity  and  desire  to  learn  as  much  as  they  can  about  this  New 
World  church,  and  concerning  its  worship,  so  different  from  rmything 
they  have  ever  seen.  Their  children  will  certainly  share  in  this  curiosity, 
and  be  delighted  to  receive  rm  invitation  to  attend  the  Sunday-school. 
TTie  two  men,  rmd  all  their  acquaintances,  will  be  the  more  eager  to 
send  their  children  because  of  their  great  desire  to  have  them  acquire 
as  early  as  possible  the  language  of  their  new  country. 

10.  Invite  the  two  assistant-sextons  to  your  house  to  tea  frequently, 
one  at  a time  at  first.  After  tea,  in  conversation  in  your  study,  get  them 
to  tell  you  confidentially  about  the  first  prayers  they  were  ever  taught  to 
use,  and  about  the  prayers  they  offered  when  trying  to  decide  the  great 
question  of  forever  leaving  their  home  and  kindred  for  this  land.  Find 
out  whether  they  are  still  men  of  habitual  prayer.  If  they  have  ceased 
to  be  so,  get  them  to  renew  the  habit.  Your  own  prayers  with  them  on 
such  an  occasion  will  be  sure  to  accomplish  the  end. 

1 1 . Loan  them,  for  their  own  use,  and  for  the  use  of  such  of 


REINFORCEMENTS  FROM  THE  ORIENT 


13 


their  friends  as  can  read  English,  good  reading  matter;  not  all  hortatory 
and  Biblical,  but  such  as  will  strike  the  least  interested  as  helpful  in 
understanding  their  new  citizenship,  its  duties  and  its  privileges.  Get 
them  to  . report  to  you  families  in  special  distress,  cases  of  sickness  and 
death,  pases  where  your  ladies’  sewing  circle  could  help  out  a mother 
of  children  who  is  nearing  the  point  of  nervous  collapse. 

1 2.  Often  exhort  your  people  to  have  a kind  greeting  for  every 
recognizable  foreigner  whom  they  may  meet  on  the  street,  or  in  business, 
and  ask  them  to  train  their  children  to  share  their  annual  allowance  for 
fireworks  on  the  Fourth  of  July,  always  giving  one-half,  with  their  own 
hand,  to  some  child  of  foreign  birth. 

1 3.  Visit  the  immigrant  families  yourself — especially  the  newly 
arrived  and  those  not  shepherded  by  any  priest  or  church.  Show  them 
that  you  are  acquainted  with  the  great  heroes  of  their  country’s  history, 
and  that  you  honor  them.  Inquire  after  their  children.  Speak  of  the 
fact  that  your  church  holds  to  a more  precious  doctrine  of  the  relation 
of  new-born  children  to  Chnst  and  His  kingdom  than  does  any  other 
in  all  Christendom.  Mention  also  modestly  the  national  and  ecumenical 
character  of  your  church.  Tell  them  that  it  accords  a spiritual  home  to 
thousands  of  Asiatics  and  Europeans,  as  well  as  to  millions  of  Ameri- 
cans. Then  explain  to  them  our  doctrine  of  childhood  and  its  privi- 
leges. Ask  them  to  tell  their  newly-arrived  neighbors  that  you  are  ready 
to  baptize,  without  fee  of  any  sort,  any  new-born  child  of  Christian 
parents,  and  also,  when  requested  by  the  parents,  to  furnish  the  child 
with  an  English-speaking  sponsor,  one  who  will  aid  them  in  giving  to 
the  child  the  training  needed  until  he  is  old  enough  to  have  the  care  of 
a regular  class-leader,  and  be  a member  of  the  Epworth  Junior  League. 

1 4.  Meantime  make  up,  with  great  care,  a list  of  your  wisest  and 
most  tactful  members — the  persons  best  able  to  appreciate  and  utilize 
the  wonderful  opportunities  opened  up  by  appointment  to  sponsorship 
to  a new-born  babe  in  a Greek,  or  Russian,  or  Polish,  or  Roumanian 
home  in  your  town.  Especially  endeavor  by  private  conversations  to 
prepare  a number  of  your  maturer  members  in  the  Epworth  League  for 
this  inspiring  work.  You  will  be  astonished  to  see  the  effect  of  such  an 
appointment  on  any  sober  Christian  youth,  even  of  seventeen.  Put  on 
him  the  responsibility  of  sponsorship  for  such  a child  in  the  humble  home 
of  a Greek,  with  the  understanding  that  he  is  to  visit  the  family  at  least 
once  a month  and  inquire  after  the  welfare  of  his  little  charge,  to  carry  to 
the  older  children  his  accumulated  Epworth  Heralds,  to  report  to  his 
pastor  sickness  or  distress  in  the  family,  to  carry  now  and  then  some 
tickets  to  a church  entertainment — and  watch  the  result.  Such  a youth 
will  quickly  learn  the  delights  and  the  rewards  of  Christian  service, 
and  in  and  by  this  precious  experience  our  Lord  will  call  many  a one  to 
a life-long  service  of  His  church  in  the  Gospel  ministry. 

1 5.  Before  all  this  has  been  going  on  any  considerable  period  of 
lime,  your  assistant-sextons  will  have  become  valuable  recruiting  agents 
for  your  Sunday  congregations,  as  well  as  for  your  Sunday-school.  At 


14 


REINFORCEMENTS  FROM  THE  ORIENT 


the  very  outset  they  will  want  their  relatives  and  neighbors  to  see  what 
consideration  is  shown  them  by  a body  of  native  Americans,  and  what 
a fine,  friendly  gentleman  their  superior  officer  is.  Serving  on  alternate 
Sundays,  each  will  bring  on  a different  day  spectators  and  auditors  from 
his  own  circle.  Then,  as  in  your  pastoral  interviews  with  them  in  your 
study  you  reawaken,  and  nourish,  and  intensify  the  religious  life  which 


Some  Ruthenian  School  Boys  with  their  Teacher  * 


has  never  wholly  died  out  within  them,  you  will  find,  before  you  know 
it,  that  our  Lord  has  put  you  in  possession  of  two  divinely  called  class- 
leaders — men  qualified  as  no  American  could  be  to  gather  among  their 
newly-arrived  Russian,  or  Magyar,  or  Greek,  or  Polish  countrymen, 
classes  of  well-meaning  men,  all  baptized  and  confirmed  members  of  an 
Oriental  Church,  all  weary  of  the  daily  strain  for  life  in  the  new  land, 
doubly  weary  of  the  cruel  prejudices  against  them,  heartsick  over  the  nick- 
names, and  curses,  and  blows  given  them  by  cheating  bosses  and  brutal 

* Cuts  on  this  and  following  pages  used  by  courtesy  of  **  Charities.**  New  York. 


REINFORCEMENTS  FROM  THE  ORIENT 


15 


taskmasters,  all  glad  to  seek  religious  comfort  and  edification  and  good 
fellowship  in  a church  whose  members  have  shown  them  the  only  Chris- 
tian kindness  they  have  found  in  a land  that  seems  to  them  given  over 
to  violence,  profanity,  and  greed.  Through  these  class-leaders  you  will 
thenceforward,  week  by  week,  be  speaking  with  tongues,  and  working 
veritable  miracles  of  personal  and  social  transformation. 

1 6.  Long  before  this  time  your  now  dying  prayer-meeting  will 
have  suddenly  become  a center  of  marvelous  life  and  power.  The 


Triumphant  Democracy — A Society  Parade  in  a Mining  Town 


attendants  who  used  to  waste  the  hour,  and  worse  than  waste  it,  in  dole- 
ful wailings  over  the  backslidden  condition  of  the  church  and  the  hope- 
lessness of  its  future,  will  now  be  full  of  the  joy  of  workers,  working 
in  blessed  companionship  with  their  Lord  and  with  one  another.  Let 
me  enter  one  of  these  meetings.  A new  assistant-sexton  is  reporting  his 
joy  of  yesterday,  when  he  succeeded  in  righting  an  outrageous  wrong 
which  a swindling  interpreter  was  attempting  to  inflict  on  an  honest  work- 
man late  from  Athens.  The  choirmaster  wants  everybody  to  know 
that  the  girl  who  has  just  taken  the  first  prize  for  singing  in  the  public 
school  is  one  from  “our  choir,”  the  very  “Cecilia”  over  whom  “our 


16 


REINFORCEMENTS  FROM  THE  ORIENT 


pastor”  was  so  rejoiced  as  his  ‘‘first-fruits  of  Achaia.”  Another  brother 
has  had  the  good  fortune  to  find  suitable  employment  for  the  poor  Syrian 
widow  who  lately  lost  her  hearing.  Still  another  has,  by  God’s  help, 
reawakened  and  reclaimed  a backslidden  Christian  from  Hungary,  once 
a schoolmaster.  He  has  brought  him  in,  that  he  may  testify  his  love 
and  gratitude  and  his  new  purposes  of  devotion.  He  introduces  him, 
and  though  his  speech  is  Hungarian,  his  tears  are  perfect  English,  and 


Immigrant  Children  (Fruit  Packers),  in  Baltimore 


his  friend’s  interpretation  of  the  broken  words  fires  all  hearts  as  with  a 
Pentecostal  baptism. 

I 7.  Now,  your  no  longer  dying  church  has  the  good  will  of  the 
whole  foreign  community.  Without  a dollar’s  expense  it  has  a Hun- 
garian class-leader,  a Greek  class-leader,  two  Russian  ones,  all  working 
in  their  several  tongues  and  circles  for  you  and  for  your  Lord.  Besides 
these  you  have  Sunday-school  children  carrying  your  sermons  and  your 
Sunday-school  helps  into  almost  every  foreign-born  family  in  your  town. 
Besides  these  you  have  1 know  not  how  many  native  Americans,  English- 
speaking  members,  who  as  sponsors,  Sunday-school  teachers,  Epworth 
League  committees,  etc.,  are  helping  you  to  show  how  the  Gospel  is 
the  power  of  God  unto  salvation  unto  every  one  that  believeth,  to  the 
Jew  first,  but  also  to  the  Gentile.  What  a changed  situation!  Your 
dying  religious  club  of  narrow-minded  and  brother-hating  self-seekers 
has,  by  God’s  grace  and  the  application  of  a little  common  sense,  become 


REINFORCEMENTS  FROM  THE  ORIENT 


17 


transformed  into  a living  church,  an  organization  which,  like  its  adorable 
Founder,  now  comes  into  human  life,  not  to  be  ministered  unto,  but  to 
minister,  and  to  give  its  life  a ransom  tor  many. 

1 8.  Long  before  this  your  work  will  have  been  observed  by  all 
true  patriots  in  your  section  of  the  commonwealth;  and  they  will  rejoice 
in  it  with  a great  joy.  They  will  send  you  funds  for  its  furtherance. 
They  will  see  with  unspeakable  satisfaction  that  you  are  solving  the 
problem  as  to  the  gaming  of  a pure,  intelligent,  and  conscientious  ballot 
for  township  and  state  and  nation.  They  will  feel  assured  that  in  your 
community  these  fast-naturalized  Orientals  are  not  going  to  be  given  over 
to  the  bids  and  bribe.'  and  lying  promises  of  unprincipled  political  bum- 
mers and  party-bosses.  They  will  see  that  the  men  to  whom  the  newly 
naturalized  are  going  to  look  for  advice  and  information  on  political  issues 
are  the  Christian  young  men  who,  as  sponsors  and  Christian  friends, 
have  been  welcome  monthly  visitors  in  their  families,  instructors  of  their 
children,  and  almoners  of  unselfish  benefactions.  Patriotic  men  and 
women  of  other  churches,  and  of  no  church,  will  applaud  the  work  by 
which  you  have  saved  not  only  your  church,  and  your  neighbors,  but 
also,  in  more  than  your  measure,  your  town,  your  state  and  nation  as  well. 

19.  ^ ear  by  year,  as  this  work  goes  on,  you  will  have  a message 
for  preachers’  meetings,  for  Christian  conventions  and  conferences.  When 
invited  to  attend  such,  you  will  not  have  to  cudgel  your  weary  brain  to 
find  some  theme  adapted  to  illustrate  your  brilliancy  or  scholarship,  and 
possibly,  as  an  incident,  to  entertain  or  profit  the  assembled  thousands. 
Ah,  no!  People  will  hang  upon  your  lips,  as  with  full  heart  you  recite 
in  their  hearing  the  latest  chapters  in  your  new  Book  of  the  Acts.  They 
will  catch  inspiration  from  the  example  you  have  set.  They  will  dupli- 
cate your  achievement  in  so  many  places  that,  in  a little  time,  the  great 
polyglot,  international,  Ecumenical  Church  to  which  you  belong  will  be 
looked  upon  in  all  lands  as  the  leading  “world-power”  in  the  imperial 
expansion  of  God’s  kingdom.  Men  will  say:  Here  is  a modern  edition 
of  the  apostolic  church,  one  which  has  seen  the  Petrine  vision  of  the 
great  sheet,  knitted  at  the  four  corners  and  let  down  from  heaven,  and 
seen  it  to  some  purpose.  Meantime,  I am  going  to  get  our  Lord  to  give 
me  at  least  half  a dozen  new  professors  for  each  of  our  leading  theolog- 
ical schools,  who,  in  as  many  different  tongues,  shall  be  helping  to  train 
— in  part  from  your  converts^ — wide-visioned  teachers,  and  evangelists, 
and  missionaries  for  all  lands  and  all  tongues  on  this  redeemed  planet. 
He  already  knows  where  the  money  is  wherewith  this  mighty  work  can 
be  done,  and  He  knows  who  among  His  countless  saints  are  to  have 
the  glory  and  joy  of  so  applying  it. 

20.  Live,  personally,  in  such  intimacy  of  communion  with  our 
Lord  that  He  can  keep  you  day  by  day  from  every  peril  resulting 
from  littleness  of  faith,  and  from  every  peril  resulting  from  astounding 
success.  Spiritual  self-distrust  and  sc)iritual  self-conceit  are  alike  fatal 
to  one  called  with  such  a divine  calling  as  that  which  I have  here  so 
imperfectly  set  before  you. 


18 


REINFORCEMENTS  FROM  THE  ORIENT 


But  my  letter  is  getting  too  long.  More  advices  are  not  needed 
to-day.  As  soon  as  you  have  carried  out  the  suggestions  already  made, 
write  me  for  more. 

Ever  affectionately  yours, 

(Signed  by  the  Writer.) 


MORE  ABOUT  THOSE  SPONSORS 

A Supplementary  Letter 

In  my  plea  for  a Christian  reception  of  Christian  families  coming 
to  us  as  immigrants  from  the  Orient,  1 recommend  that  every  pastor 
should  cause  to  be  circulated  among  these  new  comers  in  every  part 
ot  his  place  of  residence  two  offers:  First,  gratuitously  to  baptize  their 
new-born  children;  second,  gratuitously  to  provide  a suitable  English- 
speaking  sponsor  for  each  child  baptized.  The  second  part  of  this 
suggestion  has  excited  no  little  interest,  especially  among  our 
younger  pastors,  but  the  time-honored  office  of  the  sponsor  has  fallen 
into  such  utter  disuse  in  our  busy  church  that  many  of  the  younger  men, 
even  in  the  pastorate,  feel  their  need  of  further  Ught  upon  it,  and  upon 
its  promise  and  potency  as  a means  of  gaining  salutary  influence  in  and 
with  our  immigrant  families.  It  is  with  the  hope  of  benefiting  such  inter- 
ested inquirers  that  the  following  paragraphs  are  submitted: 

I . In  the  thought  of  all  Old  World  Christians  sponsorship  and 
infant  baptism  are  inseparably  connected.  To  offer  the  latter  to  a newly 
arrived  family,  with  no  recognition  of  sponsors  in  the  ceremony,  would 
seem  to  the  adult  members  of  that  family  an  offer  to  mutilate  a most 
sacred  rite  of  their  holy  religion.  They  have  never  seen,  or  perhaps 
heard  of,  a child-baptism  at  which  there  have  not  been  present  one  or 
more  persons  in  the  capacity  of  sponsors.  Whoever,  therefore,  in  any 
given  case,  proffers  to  these  comers  his  service  for  the  baptism  of 
a child  new-born  to  the  household,  should,  first  of  all,  have  and  show 
sufficient  understanding  of  the  parents’  ideas  and  usages  and  felt  needs 
to  inquire  of  them  in  advance,  and  with  genuine  solicitude,  whether, 
here  among  strangers,  in  a stranger  land,  they  have  succeeded  in  finding 
satisfactory  godparents  for  the  little  one.  The  question  will  be  sure  to 
touch  a tender  spot  in  the  breast  of  the  parents,  for  in  nine  cases  out  of 
ten  just  the  relatives  or  others  whom  they  would  most  of  all  desire  to 
see  placed  in  this  sacred  relation  to  the  child  are  among  the  dear  ones 
whom  they  have  had  to  leave  behind  in  the  old  home  hamlet  in  far-away 
Russia,  or  Greece,  or  Bulgaria.  Then  will  come  your  precious  oppor- 
tunity. To  the  parents  in  this  embarrassment,  not  knowing  what  they 
can  do,  you  make  the  friendly  offer  to  procure  for  the  needed  service  a 
true  Christian,  ore  who  so  loves  Christ  that  his  sympathies  are  not  con- 
fined to  people  of  his  owm  nationality,  or  race,  or  tongue;  one  who, 
being  a native  of  the  new-bom’s  future  land  and  a speaker  of  its  language. 


REINFORCEMENTS  FROM  THE  ORIENT 


19 


volunteers  to  care  for  the  babe’s  future  nurture  in  Christian  doctrine  and 
living  in  a way  that  only  genuine  Christian  love  can  prompt.  Under 
such  circumstances  as  these,  it  is  evident  that  the  offer  and  acceptance 
of  the  sponsorship  touches  that  family  as  no  bare  offer  or  performance 
of  a sponsorless  ceremony  of  simple  baptism  could  ever  do.  Genuine 
Christian  love  has  made  its  overture;  this  has  had  its  due  response,  and 
the  bond  which  has  resulted  conditions  an  immortal  history.  The  finish 
of  the  momentary  professional  service  marks  but  the  beginning  of  the 
precious  and  permanent  personal  self-impartation  of  Christ’s  represen- 
tative in  the  person  of  the  sponsor. 

2.  Even  if  the  parents  in  the  supposed  case  have  found  in  their 
randomly  populated  quarter  of  your  town  a person  whom  they  are  will- 
ing or  desirous  to  have  assume  the  duties  of  a godfather  or  godmother 


Slovak  Homes  in  the  Pennsylvania  Anthracite  Region 


to  their  America-bom  babe,  the  good  offices  of  an  additional  America- 
born  sponsor,  if  offered,  are  not  likely  to  be  unappreciated.  For  more 

than  half  a thousand  years  this  law  has  held  its  place  in  the  Church  of 
England:  “There  should  be  for  every  male  child  that  is  to  be  baptized 
two  godfathers  and  one  godmother,  and  for  every  female  one  godfather 
and  two  godmothers.”  Moreover,  until  recently,  a canon  of  the  same 
church  read:  “No  parent  is  to  be  admitted  to  answer  as  godfather  for 
his  own  child.”  The  Continental  churches  have  had  like  provisions. 
In  several  countries,  to  prevent  undue  multiplication,  laws  have  been 
made  limiting  the  number  to  three.  Our  supposed  family  is  accustomed 
to  sponsorships  including  two  and  three  persons.  Even  if  it  has  selected 
two  of  its  own  nationality,  it  will  gladly  add  a third  to  represent  its 
newly  dawning  nationality.  These  recently  arrived  parents  are  greatly 
impressed  by  the  fact  that  their  America-bom  babe  is  soon  to  be  what 
its  father  can  never  be,  an  America-born  citizen  of  the  Great  Republic, 
and  that  equally  soon  he  ought  to  be  a well-developed  Christian  standing 


20 


REINFORCEMENTS  FROM  THE  ORIENT 


in  normal  relations  to  all  other  America-born  Christians  within  the  Great 
Republic.  For  the  securing  of  this  end  no  available  provision  will  seem 
to  them  to  have  such  evident  fitness  and  promise  as  this  of  a personal 
Christian  friend  publicly  self-pledged,  for  Christ’s  sake,  to  see  that  their 
httle  one  shall  have  a publicly  recognized  entree  to  the  sympathies  and 
prayers  and  fellowships  of  American  Christians  as  fast  as  his  increasing 
years  shrill  permit.  More  than  this.  Separated  for  all  time  from  the 
church  of  their  own  childhood  and  manhood,  these  spiritually  homeless 
parents  will  quickly  experience  the  dawning  of  a vague  but  precious 
hope  that,  one  day,  through  this  their  very  own  little  American,  they  may 
themselves  come  to  feel  at  home  in  the  land  and  the  church  in  which, 
by  God’s  grace,  their  babe  has  already  come  to  be  a native. 

3.  What  a field  for  fruitful  Chnstian  activity  is  here  opened  be- 
fore every  local  church!  Here  even  the  dpng  parish  can  find  resurrec- 
tion life.  Nowhere  is  the  battle  lost  if  such  reserves  have  not  yet  been 
brought  into  action.  The  service  is  one  which  an  angel  in  heaven  might 
well  covet.  It  carries  with  it  the  respect  and  honor  and  love  of  a new 
home.  It  confers  the  right  to  prepare  a guest  for  heaven’s  eternal  feast. 
It  honors  lay  gifts  and  lay  agency.  It  enables  the  church  to  utilize  thous- 
ands of  men  and  women  every  way  qualified  to  serve  as  Sunday-school 
teachers,  but  so  situated  that  they  must  be  excused.  For  each  volun- 
teer in  the  service  it  means  a widening  of  intellectual  vision,  deliverance 
from  ignoble  prejudices,  growth  in  public  influence,  larger  measures  of 
divine  approval  day  by  day.  What  it  must  mean  for  the  future  of  our 
country,  and  for  the  kingdom  of  God,  was  imperfectly  hinted  in  the 
appeal  to  which  this  letter  is  a supplement. 


